


Day 6: Bread

by GemmaRose



Series: Week of Corazón 2017 [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 02:39:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11500044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: In which Sengoku learns about celiac disease, and adopts a son.





	Day 6: Bread

“Alright.” Sengoku sighed, looking into his fridge. He desperately needed to go shopping. “Are you allergic to anything, kid?” he looked over his shoulder at the boy from the dump coast, and the matted mop of blond hair shook side to side. Looking back into the fridge, Sengoku grabbed the remains of a loaf of bread and a jar of jam. “Here.” he set them on the table. “Let me get a knife, and I think I have some peanut butter in the pantry.”

“Okay.” the boy’s voice was small, even smaller than his unnaturally thin form, and Sengoku was endlessly grateful when he fished out a jar of peanut butter and a clean knife from their respective spots in his kitchen. He’d have to take the boy to a doctor tomorrow, maybe see a nutritionist, and grocery shopping was a must.

“Eat as much as you want.” he said, setting the peanut butter and knife down in front of the boy. “I’m going to go see if one of my men dropped off the papers yet.”

“Papers?” the boy asked, not looking up from determinedly assembling a sandwich with far too much jelly.

“Yes.” Sengoku nodded, shrugging off his coat and hanging it off the back of the other chair at his table. “Normally I go back to my office to fill out paperwork reporting on what happened during a patrol, but there’s nothing there for you to eat.” he left the apartment before the boy could reply, and headed down to the mailboxes. His was empty, which made sense. His men were probably still on their patrol, and likely wouldn’t get around to delivering the paperwork for another few hours.

A sound of pain caught his attention halfway back up the stairs, and he took the remaining flight and a half two steps at a time. The kid had fallen from the kitchen chair and was clutching his stomach, making pathetic whimpery noises punctuated by weak, gasping sobs.

“What happened?” Sengoku demanded, scooping the boy up in his arms.

“It hurts.” he gasped, curling in on himself with his arms wrapped over his stomach.

Fuck. At least the marine housing area was small enough that the base’s doctor was within walking distance. “Hold still.” he said, shifting the boy to one arm and grabbing his coat. Not to sling over his shoulders, but to wrap around the child. “Hang on, and warn me if you’re about to throw up.”

The kid was surprisingly quiet as Sengoku almost ran to the doctor’s, only small whimpers occasionally escaping into Sengoku’s shoulder. When the doctor opened the door, he shouldered his way in without waiting for an invitation. “What’s up with you tonight?” the woman asked, pulling her loose, silver-streaked hair up into a bun.

“This child.” Sengoku said, laying the boy down on the couch and unwrapping his coat from around him. “My men and I found him wandering-”

“Out of the way.” Dr. Wheeler said, giving him a shove and kneeling in front of the boy to pull his overgrown bangs up and press a hand to his forehead. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Ro-” he coughed, then held his stomach tighter. “Rocinante.”

“Alright, Roci. What happened before this started hurting?” she poked him through his threadbare shirt, and he whined.

“Had a sandwich.” he replied, eyes opening enough for Sengoku to see that they were an unusual orange-brown. “Am I dying?”

Dr. Wheeler laughed, and patted him on the head. “No faster than the rest of us, Roci. Has this happened before?”

The kid nodded. “Never this bad, though, and only if I ate bad food.”

“Bad food, huh?” Dr. Wheeler framed her chin with her thumb and forefinger and hummed for a second. “The Vice-Admiral here says you were wandering. I guess you’ve been fending for yourself for a few months?”

Rocinante shook his head, tears growing at the corners of his eyes. “Doffy only left a few weeks ago.”

“Alright.” the doctor nodded. “Wait here, I’ll get you something for the pain.”

“Thank you.” Rocinante said, and as his eyes slid shut Sengoku wondered if he should really be this relieved. The doctor came back shortly with a hot water bottle and a bowl of blueberries.

“Here.” she tucked the hot water bottle against Rocinante’s stomach. “Keep this up against you to relieve the pain, and eat as many of these as you want.” she set the bowl down on the coffee table and pushed it into Rocinante’s reach. He nodded, and the doctor turned to Sengoku. “You, come with me.”

He followed her into her kitchen, and she sat down in one of the chairs at the table with a sigh. Sengoku sat down across from her, and after a few seconds realized he would have to speak first. “Do you know what caused it?” he asked, and Dr. Wheeler gave him a calculating look.

“I’d have to take a blood sample to be sure, but my best guess is he’s got celiac.” she stood when the kettle whistled, and poured hot water into two mugs. “Did you notice his breath, when you were carrying him?”

Sengoku thought for a second, then nodded. “Like overripe fruit.”

“That’s because the bacteria in his gut aren’t the same as the bacteria in ours.” she retrieved a saucer, a bowl of sugar, and set those on the table along with the mugs of tea. “Celiac also explains why he looks so malnourished after just a few weeks. His body can’t absorb the nutrients from anything he eats.”

“Is there anything you can do for him?” Sengoku asked, accepting the mug she pushed into his hands.

“Me? No.” dr. Wheeler shook her head. “But as long as you don’t give him anything with wheat, rye, or barley he should be able to recover.”

Sengoku nodded, then stilled. When had she assumed that he was going to adopt the boy? He hadn’t even known Rocinante’s name until a few minutes ago. He was a vice-admiral, in charge of one of the largest bases in North Blue, he didn’t have time to raise a child. And yet, he wasn’t protesting as she started writing out lists of foods that would help Rocinante recover and how often he should see her during those few months and what would best keep him healthy once he was recovered.

She placed the sheet of paper in Sengoku’s hand, and he looked from it to the living room, where he could see his coat draped over the back of the couch. A head of messy blond hair rose into view, and one dirty little hand grabbed his coat to pull down and, presumably, use as a blanket. He sighed, and looked back at the list in his hand. “Do you have a snail I can use?”

“In the front room.” Dr. Wheeler nodded her head towards it. “You can leave him here with me, if you want to go home.”

Sengoku shook his head, knowing as he did so that he was already well past the point of no return. “I need to call my men and tell them to bring some extra paperwork to my apartment, then I’ll take Rocinante and be out of your hair.”

The old woman chuckled, and gave him a knowing look. “You sure you’re up for this?”

“No.” he admitted with a shake of his head, looking over at the back of the couch that blocked Rocinante from view. “But I doubt any first time parent is.”

**Author's Note:**

> My thanks to Crow, on Discord, for explaining some things about celiac disease. This fic would've been a lot more bland without you.


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